Life, 1908-03-12 · page 20 of 20
Life — March 12, 1908 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Schlitz beer advertisement**, not a political cartoon. Published in *Life* magazine on March 12, 1908, it promotes Schlitz as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." The ad appeals to early 20th-century health anxieties by emphasizing sanitation and purity—claims that would resonate with consumers concerned about food safety and contamination. Key selling points include sterilized bottles, filtered air in cooling rooms, and extended aging to prevent "biliousness" (digestive upset). The decorative hops imagery frames the text, reinforcing the product's natural origins. The closing instruction to verify the branded cork or crown suggests counterfeiting was a concern. This reflects the pre-Prohibition era when beer marketing stressed wholesomeness and scientific production methods to build consumer confidence in an increasingly industrialized food supply.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Let your home beer be Schlitz because of its purity. Get the good without the harm. In our brewery, cleanliness is carried to extremes. Even the air in our cooling rooms is filtered. Every bottle of Schlitz beer is sterilized, to insure freedom from germs. And all Schlitz beer is aged for months, so that it cannot cause biliousness. Be as careful of your beer as you are of your food. f Order Schlitz and be sure of it. @ Ask for the Brewery Bottling. See that the cork or Th e B e e r crown ts branded Schlitz. | PRESS OF REDFIELD BROTHERS. NEW YORK comicbooks.com